Tales of Valor
by Shi-oon Yi
Summary: A simple palace girl may have had her life saved but could her heart have been stolen by the same man that came to her rescue? You a girl in the King's royal harem finds herself in an awkward situation, she can't get her mind off of the man that saved her life during the rebellion. Left with no alternative, she takes drastic measures to learn more about him. Rom? M for violence.
1. Prologue

Tales of Valor: Prologue

I do not own Kingdom

 _(Note: I know_ ** _Shin's_** _full name historically is_ ** _Li Xin_** _, I imagine, based on characters with similar names, his Kingdom Japanese name will be_ ** _Ri Shin_** _, much like how_ ** _Li Si_** _is now_ ** _Ri Shi_** _and_ ** _Li Mu_** _is now_ ** _Ri Boku_** _. My point is I will only be referring to his as_ ** _Shin_** _as it is my belief that he will receive his family name from_ ** _Sei_** _later in the story.)_

Based around an idea I had that You (Yang) became fascinated in the young officer that saved her, Kou (Xiang), and Rei's lives during the State of Ai's rebellion.

* * *

Sometime after the rebellion is quelled and the affairs in Kanyou (Xiangyang) are finally under the full authority of the king of Qin, Ei Sei (Ying Zheng), the royal court became quite peaceful, for a time. It is deep within the royal palace that you will find an area referred to as the royal harem. The royal harem is a restricted portion of the palace that no man can enter, under normal circumstance, lest they be eunuchs or beheaded. But it is within this harem that something strange happens.

During the rebellion, a pair of palace girls were pursued relentlessly, one of whom had given birth to the current king's first daughter. This child is why they had been hunted down with such fervor. This child is also why You was willing to sacrifice her life if it meant that Kou and her daughter Rei could live on. You had resigned herself to death, she had accepted that is was to be her fate to die for these two. But fate had other ideas for her. For you see, in the moments before she killed by the invaders, a 5000 man-commander fell from the heavens, saved her and killed the attackers. This commander has made quite the name for himself and his unit that he leads. His name is Shin (Xin) and within the palace, he has also become known for his friendship with the king. Even a sheltered palace girl like You has heard of him, though mostly she heard of his brash and brutish nature from Kou who had met him only once or twice before.

From the moment that he saved her life onward, You would use all her contacts to keep track of the unit lead by this Shin. But she could only get so many details out of word of mouth stories that the contacts would give her. A victory here, a killed enemy commander there, this was merely keeping track of his movements, she wanted to know more about him. It was only when she came to want to know more than, she realized that she had in her special situation the best condition to learn about this man. It was no secret at this point that this man Shin had a special relationship with the king. He was his sword and at times his shield.

Upon the realization, You pleaded with Kou to convince the king to call for her soon. You had heard from Kou that spending the night with the king was about the only time that he would speak about his personal feelings and past, to the right person at least.

Some weeks later You was selected to sleep with the king one night. She had been called before but that was with the sole purpose of trying to produce the first heir, which had already come and gone. This was her chance to find out what she wanted to know.

* * *

 _-inside the king's quarters-_

The door slowly opened and a young palace girl You bowed to the King of Qin. "G-" She stumbled over her words. "Good evening, your Majesty, I thank you for choosing me tonight."

The king merely sat in his bed reading scrolls, not even bothering to look up. "Yes, you may raise your head miss." His voice, though tired, rang with authority.

You approached his bedside, and the eunuch closed the door behind her. "I will be in your care tonight your highness." Though she had things she wanted to ask it would not be wise and would be highly disgraceful to bring them up right away she thought, he had to be the one to propose the idea of talking. So until he brought it up she would not say a word of it until he prompted it.

This mindset, however, would cause her a great deal of stress as the king would simply do the same thing every time she would come and lay in bed with him. He would read his scrolls until the palace girl did her duties, and once that finished he would resume reading. Over the next 6 months, she would visit him, and do the same thing over again. Eventually, Sei would break this silence and say, "You know, I keep requesting you because Kou said that you had something that you wanted to ask me, but If you are just using it as a way to get closer to me then I will stop requesting you as often.

You, shaken by this, prostrated herself to the King. "Please forgive me your highness, I wanted to ask you so many things but I felt I could not and should not be the one to bring it up first, as it would be disgraceful to ask what I want to ask otherwise. In fact, I'm certain that it would be disgraceful with way as well but I have no choice. Since I am a mere palace girl designated as a consort to you it would be most shameful to ask you to speak about your past." She would not raise her head unless told to do so.

Sei is struck by this. "My past? What are you looking to find you about me?" Sei became curious about her words, normally consorts did their duties and went on their way, not one, beside Kou cared to ask about his past.

You, still bowing, answers, "Forgive my impudence, but it is not _your_ past exactly but actually about the man known as Shin of the Hi Shin Unit (Fei Xin). I understand that you two have a history. Please forgive me for asking you about another man." She was tearing up because she knew that it wasn't her place to talk about other men to the man she is meant to serve. She could even feasibly be killed for thinking so much about a man that is not the king.

The room was quiet for a time. Then You would feel a hand on her back followed by the king saying, "Raise your head. I am more than happy to tell you about the man that is Shin of the Hi Shin unit."

You raised her head and met the gaze of the king. His eyes were soft, "But where should I begin?"

* * *

 _ **Hello, everyone. So this was something that popped into my head some time ago. I will be adding to this on occasion. In fact, the first real chapter will come out sometime in the next week. The basic idea is pretty cut and dry but I thought it'd be fun.**_

 _ **As I always say I welcome all forms of critique and corrections. Leave a comment if you liked it. Follow if you want more and favorite so that I'll know just how much you like the idea I came up with. As this is the prologue this will be the shortest one by far. Hope to see you next time. And to those of you who follow my other content, worry not this will not derail the progress on the others. The Tag Along will update by the end of the year. The Test subject Will continue. And the others are on Hiatus until I get more inspiration. But if you like the idea of the Strawhats interacting with Team Urameshi please check out MaxGentlman1 and his Demon of the Grand Line story.**_

 ** _Until next time._**

 ** _Shi-oon Yi Signing out._**


	2. Chapter 1: The slave boy

Tales of Valor: Chapter 1: The slave boy

* * *

 ** _I do not own Kingdom. Kingdom it the property of Yasuhisa Hara and Shueisha. Please support the official release._**

* * *

"You want to know about Shin?" I was quite surprised by this girl's sudden interest in Shin. "I suppose the question I need to ask now is, why?" I know full well that this could be a ploy to try and get closer to me, so I needed to question her and find out her reason. "Why do you want to know of him?"

I knew of this girl, she is Kou's friend. You I think her name was. She risked her life to protect Kou and Rei's lives during Ryo Fui's rebellion, though it's officially called the State of Ai rebellion. I can't recall if she's been to my bed chambers before she asked Kou to recommend her to me.

"I know that this is strange of me to request your highness." I watched as she bowed her head low. "But you see, when the plot against your highness that brought rebellion last year, I along with Kou-chan and princess Rei were rescued by Shin-sama. It was the first time I got to put a face to Kou-chan's stories."

I stifled a laugh. _"Sama?"_ Now that was funny to hear coming about Shin. I have called him with the honorific _"Dono"_ before but that was only at an official award ceremony. Though I'm certain that his men must refer to him in some respect.

"So you've come to me to find out more about the man who saved you?" I clarified to her and she nodded her head, "Though, I'm not sure you'll like what you hear about him, however, as a soldier many of my stories involve quite grue-."

"That's alright!" She burst out quickly seems that she really wanted to hear about him. "I don't mind at all, I was standing right there when Shin-sama slew the man who was about to kill me." She finally raised her head to me, I could tell that she was sure that she could handle any detail that I choose to tell her.

I closed the scroll I was reading giving her a small grin. "I see, then I suppose the only thing left would be to decide where to start." I waved for her to join me in bed. No sense in leaving her in the cold.

She glowed, she looked as Kou did when Rei took her first steps. She joined me in bed without hesitation. "Anywhere is fine your highness."

I racked his brain to think of the best place to start.

The Shin that I know?

I took me some time but I finally reached a conclusion. "All right I know just where to start then. Though most of this will be the story that I heard from Shin himself or experienced first hand."

You's eyes sparkled in anticipation.

I took a deep breath.

* * *

 _-8 years earlier-_

I was awaiting the return of my most loyal retainers, at the time, from a scouting mission he was on. He was late but I knew the reason for the lateness.

There was a knock at the door, "Your Highness. It's me, Shou Bun Kun (Chang Wen Jun)."

I opened his eyes, "Enter."

The door then opened and in came two figures, I could tell that one was large and the other much smaller, around my size. "Your Highness, I have brought the boy that I wrote to you about." Shou Bun Kun spoke as he sat on the side of the room. "His name is Hyou (Piao), he is a former servant from a village. I believe he will be of great value to your highness."

I have trust in this man's judgment so I had little issue believing it but I wanted to get a look for myself. Between us was a curtain to hide my appearance. "Don't lie to the boy Shou Bun Kun, what we want him to do is a very dangerous and likely deadly job. In the remote possibility of our plan failing he could very well die. Hyou was it?"

The boy prostrated himself before me, his king. He remained quiet for a time. Only to turn his head to Shou Bun Kun, "Mister Shou Bun Kun, could I speak to his highness?"

"Relax Hyou, you may speak before me." I gave him permission, though I must admit this politeness was unexpected.

I could see his once tense body begin to relax, "Yes your highness. My name is Hyou, but you already know that. I figured that the reason I was brought here was for a dangerous job."

I actually cracked a smile, "We shall see if that is true. Have you been informed as to why you have been brought here?"

Hyou paused raising his head-

* * *

 _-present-_

"Your Highness, what does this boy have to do with Shin-sama?" You interrupted my tale it wasn't that big a deal, "You'll see."

* * *

 _-8 years earlier-_

"No not really, your highness, I was given a chance to be something more than a servant so I took it. It would have been a disservice to the promise I made." Hyou proudly placed his hand on his chest.

"Promise, you say? And what promise would that be?" I inquired of that proud child.

Hyou began, "I was a mere servant not a few days ago, but I wasn't alone. There was another boy with me. These two servants dreamed of becoming strong and then working their way to be the most fearsome generals in the history of China. We promised that we would do all we could to become the greatest generals of all time." He spoke with such conviction and passion. "That is why I left him there and came with mister Shou Bun Kun."

I listened intently to the boy. "All right then," I stood up and approached the curtain. "I don't want you to look away Hyou."

This, of course, confused Hyou a bit but he did as I had ordered him to.

I removed the curtain so that he could see for himself why he was there.

Hyou did not avert his gaze as told. After a few moments, Hyou realized that he looked very similar to me, the young Qin king. Anyone would get the two of us mixed up. "I see. So that is the reason then." Hyou stayed seated, "Then before I take on this role could I make one request of your highness?

I stared down at the young man. "What would that be?"

Hyou would then raise to his feet to be at eye level with his me. "If anything were to happen to me, would you please seek out my brother, Shin? He's stronger than I am."

"Shin? The other servant boy?" Shou Bun Kun spoke up. "You said that you were virtually tied in you daily duels."

"Daily duels?" I couldn't help but be intrigued.

"Oh yes, your highness. Becoming a general wasn't something we just stayed up at night talking about. We trained our bodies to become stronger. As of now, we stand at 334 in my favor, 334 to Shin and 587 draws."

Shou Bun Kun seemed surprised, "Ah so he tied it up since that time." He let out a light laugh.

"That's quite a lot of duels. And you say that this boy Shin is stronger than you are?" Even I was impressed by the number of duels the two have had.

"That is right." Hyou gave me nod, "If I ever got ahead of him in our duels, no matter how hard I tried, he'd always pull off a win and tie it up again. I could never truly best him."

"I will vouch for their skills your highness. Even at their age, they'd easily give any veteran soldiers a hard time." Shou Bun Kun added.

I heard his statement and gave a slight nod. "I believe that could be arranged. But only if he proves as potentially useful as you."

Over the next few weeks, Sei Kyou's (Cheng Jiao) coup would come to a head, forcing my faction to scatter in an effort to get me to safety. Of course I was already in a safe place, instead, the pursuers were actually chasing after Hyou, my secret body double. To be expected, Sei Kyou would not only send soldiers, but he also would send assassins to make sure that I would be killed.

I would later find out that our plans failed and that young man died for me struck down by an assassin.

While I waited in the safe house for Shou Bun Kun or anyone from my side to come and we would then move on to the next position. But to my surprise After hearing a big commotion in the nearby bandit village. Before long there was someone at the door of the safe house and I found myself face to face with a young man.

"HYOU?" He spoke in shock.

"Wrong guy. I am Sei." I corrected him.

His presence at the safe house meant that Hyou somehow made it to him to tell him to go there. He even was wearing the sword we gave to Hyou, through that I deduced that Hyou was now dead.

We couldn't talk for long as soon we were interrupted by an assassin. The very same one it turns out that killed Hyou.

Forced outside the safe house we were forced to face the assassin. While Shin was not yet aware the assassin unintentionally informed him of just who I was. Of course, Shin still grieving over the loss of Hyou

Shin was inexperienced in a real battle and the assassin while quite skilled he could not manage to land a fatal blow on him. He used killing intent to intimidate Shin, claiming that he was much too inexperienced to face him. Managing to kick Shin into the remnants of the safe house it was clear that Shin never was in a real life or death battle.

"Shin…" I caught his attention while he struggled to get up. He was clearly psyched out by the aura emitted by the assassin. "Don't think of anything else. Just focus on getting your revenge for Hyou."

After getting berated for uttering his brother's name, Shin got back in the fight. After he managed to regain his bearings he went back at it with the assassin. Only this bout was considerably more in Shin's favor. At first, they traded blow for blow and then just when the assassin thought that he had the killing blow lined up he went for the kill. A clean slash across where Shin had been.

To his dismay, Shin was not there. In fact, Shin had dodged by jumping high in the air ready lining up his own final strike. I watched as the assassin tried to put up his sword to defend but it was not enough. With his anger and pain behind his sword, Shin's strike was far too heavy and he broke clean through the assassin's sword cutting deep into his shoulder. Shin had attained his first victory in a real battle.

His strike, unfortunately, was not enough to kill the assassin. Bleeding and defenseless the assassin began to beg for his life to be spared. Shin had never killed before was now considering letting him go. I, on the other hand, had another idea in mind. I drew my sword and slew the assassin where he stood. "Your crimes have nothing to do with your children." I berated Shin for listening to the begging of such a man. "You cannot allow such things as sentiment cloud your judgment. This man's family had nothing to do with what he has done."

Shin clearly had something on his mind that he wanted to get off his chest but I was too busy at the time to sit around and wait for him to find the words that he wanted to say. Not but a few moments later I felt the ground shake. It was not natural either. It was Chancellor Ketsu's backup plan if the assassin failed an army of what I believed to be at least 10,000 soldiers. Soon after Shin felt the ground shake as well.

With all avenues of escape including the river blocked off, Shin said something that to this day would leave me speechless. Shin faced the direction of the army, readied his sword and said, "Dammit! Then I guess I'll go another round."

Like anyone I was floored, "You're intending to fight an entire army?" Clearly, he was more foolish than brave but those words still struck a chord in me.

His answer was only something that I could expect of him now. "Of course! Like hell I'm dying in a place like this… Make sure you keep up with me!"

At first, it didn't register with me but after denouncing the idea it hit me. "Keep up with you?" It was quite shocking to hear, considering he didn't care if I died at the time.

But what Shin said next motivated even me. "I'll decide whether or not to kill you once we've broken through the encirclement you better stay close."

I readied myself, "Looks like I have little other choice in the matter. Let's go."

And with that Shin and I began charging to our inevitable deaths. But fate had other ideas in mind. Before the army came into view the most curious creature appeared before us. It was a child dress to look like an owl.

"I know a way around that army. I can show you."

* * *

 _-Present-_

I looked at the lantern and could tell that the oil was running low, "I think that will be where I should leave off for now. I hope you enjoyed the start of Shin's tale. I've enjoyed reminiscing on those times."

You's eyes were glistening with excitement. It was if she had held on to every word of the story. "Your majesty has granted my request, there's no way I wouldn't enjoy it." She had the optimism of a child, it sort of reminds me of Rei. "Your majesty, may I ask a question?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What would that be?"

She bowed and hesitated a moment as if to find the proper words, "I have heard of the exploits of Shin-sama on the battlefield, but there isn't much about his home life. Has he taken a wife? A man of his rank would normally take one right?" She kept her head low. I presume because she was bracing herself for a possible answer.

 _I apologize for the late entry. I made multiple attempts to see which one I liked the most. So I decided that this will be a series of different perspectives. There will be other characters to tell You stories of Shin. The perspective of the story will change whenever someone new enters to tell her a new story. I am working to graduate later this year so my schedule will be very very slow. As always I welcome all comments, corrections, critiques, rants, raves, etc. I want to improve my skills as much as possible. If you like this story idea or just want to talk don't hesitate to leave a review or pm me._

 ** _Until next time._**

 ** _Shi-oon Yi signing out_**


End file.
